World Record $7.68M USD Paid For Vintage Patek Philippe Ref. 2499

Sotheby’s Hong Kong has broken the world record for the price paid for Patek Philippe’s Ref 2499 perpetual calendar chronograph.

Selling as part of a single-owner collection of 38 vintage Patek Philippe watches – dubbed The Nevadian Collector – the pink gold 2nd Series Ref 2499 from 1957 is double-signed by retailer Gobbi Milano and sold for more than $60M HKD ($7.68M USD).

The 37.5mm watch was one of four Ref. 2499 examples in the sale – which ranged in price from the record-breaking price to $7.56M HKD (approximately $963,000 USD).

The same watch held the record for most expensive Ref. 2499 back in 2007, when it sold at Sotheby’s Geneva for CHF 2.7M before being overtaken in 2018 by a yellow gold Asprey-signed Ref. 2499, again selling at Sotheby’s Geneva, for CHF 3.915M (approximately $4M USD).

The collection also included a pink gold Ref. 1518 – predecessor to the Ref. 2499 – from 1948, which achieved $22.76M HKD ($2.9M USD).

While five of the most sought-after vintage perpetual calendar chronographs in existence may sound considerable enough, the entire collection is understood to have once stood at 400 Patek Philippe watches, including 15 Ref. 1518 examples and 18 Ref. 2499 watches.

It is worth noting that – for now at least – multi-million dollar hammer prices are not being achieved by the Ref. 2499’s successor, the Ref. 3790, which saw around 650 examples being made between 1986 and 2004. A yellow gold example from 1992 sold for $1,008,000 HKD (approximately $128,500 USD).

In total The Nevadian Collector sale achieved $162,378,100 HKD (approximately $20.7M USD) against a pre-sale estimate of $78M HKD (approximately $8.9M USD).

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